Madison area residents have the opportunity on August 27th-29th to be trained as crisis responders, and to learn how to bring God’s presence in the wake of tragedy and disaster.
Crisis Response International (CRI) is an outreach that recognizes that God’s love, hope and mercy is needed most after disaster strikes. And who better to deliver the Good News than God’s people.
John Rolfsmeyer has been spreading the word about CRI at Mad City Church. "God is raising up a new set of missionaries to run into crises, not just with food and relief supplies, but with the love of God and the power of God," he said. "Madison is the first group outside of Kansas City that’s being trained by CRI." Attendees at other Madison churches are also responding.
As CRI’s website explains:
The history of CRI is deeply wrapped up in the history of its Director, Sean Malone. In 2001, Sean was working as a part of a lighting crew for a movie in New York when suddenly 9/11 happened. When he viewed the footage of firefighters trying to dig through the rubble in the night with flashlights he called his father (also in the movie lighting business) and they agreed to take their equipment to ground zero and provide lighting for the search and rescue operations.
A few years later Sean moved his family down to New Orleans and was planning to start working with a friend, when shortly after they arrived they heard news of Hurricane Katrina coming. After evacuating safely, his family went back down a few months later to gather any remaining possessions. When they arrived their hearts were moved for all the people downtown who were in desperate need of food. So, the Malone family stayed in the inner city of New Orleans for a few months and hosted teams of volunteers to cook food and serve the people.
After they were done serving those impacted by Katrina, the Malone family eventually moved to Kansas City and decided to start Crisis Response International.
The Madison area training will take place August 27-29, 2009, at the McKenzie Environmental Center near Poynette. More information is available at: http://criout.com/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000051825 .